Truth or Dare
by Denaliyasha
Summary: Danny and Lindsay get stuck in a dark room. Together. And Danny's idea of an interesting way to keep their minds off the situation has some unintended results. Not as cliché as it sounds. Fluff for the holidays.


Disclaimer: I don't even own the idea for this.

A/N: This was written as a backup for a secret santa fic exchange, but it wasn't needed. The prompt was Lindsay/Danny, realistic situation caught in a blackout. I dunno, I think my situation's a bit contrived, but all in all I like the story. Christmas fluff. Please review!

**Truth or Dare**

"I'm going to kill him. No, scratch that, I'm going to torture him. Slowly, painfully, and forever." _He_ was Flack. Or Mac. Lindsay couldn't tell from Danny's rantings. To be honest, she was harboring similar feelings towards both of them.

Flack was the one who'd assured them that the building was safe, up to code and not dangerous at all to the CSIs he'd dragged out of bed at two am on their day because they were the only ones he trusted. Mac had been the one to tell him to call them in.

"That won't solve anything." She shifted, trying to make herself more comfortable on the coat she'd folded and was using as a cushion.

"Do you have a flashlight?" He could barely see her in the gloom.

"Don't you think I would have gotten it out when you killed the lights?" Her voice was wry.

"_I _killed the lights? You're saying this was my fault?" He sounded indignant, and she could imagine the look on his face.

"Well, you were the one who tripped over a chair, knocked over a pipe, and smashed the one light in the building."

"Hey! You're the one who freaked out and slammed the door." He glared in her general direction.

"How was I supposed to know the door locked automatically?" She frowned. "I mean, we'll be out in a bit, when they have time to send someone for us."

"Yeah, remind me why nobody can be bothered to come by and help us?"

She started ticking off points on her fingers, even thought he couldn't see. "One, because we're not in any sort of imminent danger. Two, because one of the reasons we got stuck here was because criminals seem to be conversely affected by the holiday spirit."

There was silence for a few moments. Then, Danny decided the emptiness needed filling. "So... what were you planning for Christmas Eve?"

"Sleeping, probably. Calling my mother." She shrugged, an automatic gesture even in the dark. "Is it a bit cold in here, or is it just me?"

"Well, I'm not chilly, but..." There was a pause as Danny weighed his options. He could give her his coat, leaving him to sit on the really cold floor. He could do nothing and feel like a jerk. Or... he scooted over, a little awkwardly because it meant moving his makeshift cushion, and sat next to her, flinging an arm over her shoulder. "That better?"

"Mmm. Thanks." She sounded vaguely embarassed, but at least she hadn't hit him. Emboldened by this, he decided to try something to keep both of their minds off the situation.

"Truth or dare?"

"You have got to be kidding me." He could practically see the look that accompanied the drawl.

"Do you have a better idea to pass the time? Come on, Montana. Truth or dare?"

"You realize we can't really do dares in here..."

He grinned. She was caving! "Well, then, pick truth."

"Fine." She settled in more comfortably against his side (he had to work on not groaning when her hand brushed against his thigh) and he got the impression she'd closed her eyes. "Truth."

"Hmmm..." He studied the outline of her face, which is about all that was visible. "First guy you ever kissed."

"Jeez, can't you be a little more original? Hunter Brown, 2nd grade. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

She turned her head towards him. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Ok. I dare you to... stop calling me Montana for a week."

"Damn." He'd forgotten about that. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Why'd you become a CSI?"

There was silence. Danny frowned. "Come on, Linds, you gotta answer the question."

"In college, my sorority held a sleepover in the student center on campus. Someone a group of my sisters had embarassed decided to take revenge on all of us." Her voice was cold and pained. "He thought he'd killed me, but I was in a really big sleeping bag, so he missed and the knife missed most of my vital organs. I watched him while he killed several of my best friends, and I told the police what he looked like and who he was. One of them said that since I could..." She stopped for a moment to swallow hard. "I could keep my head in a crisis, I should work with them. So I did."

Game forgotten, he wrapped both arms around her, pulling her into his chest. "God, Linds, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you."

"It's fine." She pressed her forehead into his shoulder. "I've come to terms with it."

"Well, I haven't." The idea of Lindsay lying, bleeding, watching a crazy man kill everyone else in the room... it was enough to make him need to break something. "Did they catch him?"

"Yes." She sighed, turning so that she was now sitting between his knees and leaning back against him. "I had to testify. They tried to get him off on the insanity defense, and his lawyers tried to make me say that he'd acted nuts."

"Did you?"

"No. He was calm, methodical about it. He was a sociopath."

"I'm so, so sorry." He tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to his body.

"The worst of it was, all of my friends were dead, and nobody would talk to me, because I scared them."

Unable to form the proper words of sympathy, Danny simply pressed his lips to her temple. "I don't see how you could scare anyone."

She turned her head up to him, and he could just barely make out her features. "Thanks, Danny."

"For what?"

"For listening. For not judging. For caring."

"My pleasure." Acting on sudden impulse, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers gently. One of his hands slid up her side to cup the back of her head.

"Danny? What are you doing?" She murmured the words against his mouth.

He pulled back. "Look, I..." His words were cut off when she turned so that she was kneeling in front of him and grabbed his face, kissing him hard.

It took a few minutes for him to remember that he needed to breathe. "Linds?" He rested his forehead on hers. "Are you sure about this? I can't do this again, the whole backing off thing. I only have so much self control."

"Positive." She smiled a little sadly. "The reason I came to New York was because one of the girl's mothers blamed me for her daughter's death. It was totally out of the blue, like she just snapped one day. Yelled at me every time she saw me, started harassing me, showing up wherever I was... I just couldn't deal with that. So I came here, and then you..." Her smile turned rueful. "You sort of took over my mind. At first because you drove me nuts, but then because you really seemed to care. And that scared me."

"Hey, it's fine." He brushed her hair back. "I understand. Really."

"You're being nicer than I deserve." She kissed him again, briefly, only to whip around as the heavy door scraped back.

Flack poked his head in. "Someone order a rescue?"

"Took you long enough," Danny griped, standing and helping Lindsay to her feet. They picked up their kits, thankful for the light even as it hurt their eyes.

"You collect everything?"

"Of course we did. This is our job, you realize."

"Hey, no offense meant!" He held up his hands in mock surrender, stepping aside to let them out past the crime scene tape. His eyes fixed on their hands, which were joined. A tiny smile tugged at his lips, but he made no comment. Yes, he completely won the pool on this one. Now to convince Stella that they'd actually gotten together...


End file.
